NASA’s faraway Juno spacecraft will remain in a highly elongated orbit around Jupiter for the remainder of its mission as engineers opted against performing a burn of the craft’s rocket engine that is considered too risky after a series of valves within the propulsion system had shown a suspect signature.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft brushed past Jupiter on Sunday, marking the mission’s first operational science pass with seven of the craft’s instruments active as the probe zipped past the Gas Giant at a speed over 200,000 Kilometers per hour.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been recovered from an unplanned Safe Mode and is entering preparations for a December 11 flyby of Jupiter while teams continue studying a pair of technical issues on the spacecraft while it continues orbiting the Gas Giant in a highly elongated orbit.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft – currently in a highly elongated orbit around Gas Giant Jupiter – unexpectedly entered safe mode on Wednesday preventing its scientific instruments from capturing data when the spacecraft made its second close orbital brush past the planet

Instead of spiraling down into a two-week science orbit around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will have to remain in a highly elliptical orbit for at least one more lap around the gaseous world due to a suspect signature seen in the preparatory steps for the critical main engine burn originally planned for next week.

NASA presented promising evidence on Monday that future exploration missions to Jupiter Moon Europa will not have to drill through a Kilometers-thick ice sheet to reach what is considered the Holy Grail of planetary science – liquid water on a foreign world.

NASA’s released spectacular photos on Friday showing planet Jupiter like never seen before, providing a treasure trove to scientists to learn more about the formation of Gas Planets and offering a look deep into the Solar System’s past.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft completed the first of 36 close orbital flybys of Jupiter last weekend after swinging around the planet in a highly elliptical orbit following the successful obital insertion maneuver on July 4.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around Jupiter Monday night to mark the end of a 2.8-billion Kilometer journey and the start of a 20-month mission of discovery studying the king of the Solar System’s Gas Giants.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully sailed into orbit around Jupiter Monday night after a five-year journey, becoming only the second craft to enter orbit around the gas giant, coming closer than any previous mission to deliver unprecedented data from a largely unexplored world.

The lucky peanuts were out and all eyes were on the screens at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where the signals from the faraway Juno probe showed the spacecraft slowing down to be captured in orbit around Gas Giant Jupiter.